what happens when you tell your therapist you hear voices??

Question

What can they do I know therapists cannot perscribe drugs even if i do need them I do not want them. If you go to a psychologist what do they do? i mean test wise???

Answer 1

He charges you $150.00

Answer 2

I think the most difficult test for the psychologist will have is to distinguish in what way the patient hears voices. There are so many interpretations that could be taken. For instance, if I said "I hear voices", I would mean I literally hear voices talking to me and what is said comes from that voice's mind. Others could mean they are perceiving an idea in their head and the thought comes through their minds. Some could mean they have a spiritual feeling and that is the 'voice' they hear. I've finally learned that two people can have an hour long conversation about one subject/idea, and they both perceive it in a totally different aspect.

Answer 3

If you tell them you hear voices, they're first impression will be that you have schizophrenia (or possibly high-grade depression with hallucinations, which is more rare). They would have you do some testing (basically questionnaires and/or neuropsych evaluation) and would likely refer you to a psychiatrist for an evaluation for medication (most likely an "anti-psychotic"). There are, of course, other reasons for hearing voice - this is the line of treatment for someone that actually, auditorly, HEARS the voices. If you have the feeling that a voice is telling you to do things (as in OCD), but dont actually HEAR a voice (like you hear a song on the radio), then treatment would progress differently. Either way, you should seek treatment, because its a serious symptom.

Answer 4

you use the term therapist, so I am supposing you do not mean a psychiatrist or a psychologist, which are both medically trained.

therapists or counsellors are (hopefully) trained in one or more streams of therapy which include but are not limited to:
cognitive therapy
traditional therapy
somatic psychotherapy
behavioural therapy
interpersonal psychotherapy
dance therapy
music therapy
guided imagery

it will depend very much on many variants as to what the therapist will do if you tell them you hear voices.

They will most likely explore with you the nature of the voices, the content and attitude of the communications, the healthiness of the voices and your general emotional wellness.

depending on their findings they may refer you to a medically trained person such as a psychologist or psychiatrist.

they may also simply continue therapy as is

you can of course research some of these things for yourself by visiting these websites

Answer 5

Psychologists don't do anything. All of the ones I've been to have taken me into the office, asked if I'm sleeping and eating, and then given me a new prescription- no tests or anything. If you tell your therapist about it, he or she can write a note to your psychologist telling them of the problem and maybe even suggesting a prescription that they think will work.

Answer 6

In most instances, I would imagine a qualified therapist would take careful notes of what exactly you are hearing, how often, for how long, and take adequate summaries of any underlying causes (medical conditions, accidents, etc). From there, they would treat you will a wide variety of coping mechanisms and strategies to help you deal with what is happening, how to handle it, and what steps to take to meet a final objective. More often than not a referral to a psychiatrist for medication assessement will be necessary. I can't agree more with the person who posted that murderers heard voices....it is nothing to play around with! You owe it to yourself, your family, and society to be responsible so this situation does not snowball into a potential catastropic situation.

Good luck!

Answer 7

Therapist take there jobs very seriously. So if you tell them that you are hearing voices in your head they have to look into that because it could mean alot of different things. It could mean you have a split personality it could mean a boat loda of things.
They will probably send you to a mental hospital for a serious of test.

Answer 8

Ok I friggin went to one and they stipped me down to my white underwear and put me in this maze and put a piece of chese at the other end I found it in half hour. JK. Basically you can tell them anything and they have to keep it confidential unless you tell them you will hurt someone or hurt yourself then they have to alert the right people. They can suggest you take pills but they can't make you. Also if for some weird reason(I got in trouble with the law and my Probation Officer wanted to know what was going on at my sessions so she had my dad sign a waiver allowing release of information allowing her to get the info) someone needs to see it which really really shouldn't happen then if your underaged your guardian would need to sign a waiver to realese information then your therapist can tell that person. If you are of age I guess you can refuse to sign a waiver. Also If you're having problems with someone they may offer to have you sitdown with them so you can talk but of course you can refuse saying that you just want to talk to your therapist.

Answer 9

The difference between a Psychiatrist and a Psychologist is that a psychiatrist can prescribe drugs. And a good psychiatrist/psycologist can tell if you really are having problems or if you are lying.

Answer 10

Depeds on the background of the therapists, psycology is a wide area, I had a profesor that told us that he normally just follows the flow of what you are telling him, but as you speak he is psyco analysing you, mind you he is a true follower of sigmon Freud so he will probably tell you had a fixation when you were groing up!! hope this helps.

Answer 11

If you're hearing voices, you should let your therapist know. He/She can connect you to a psychiatrist who can help (with medication).

The real question is: why do you not want to take medication? Generally, it's the only way to get rid of voices.